We sometimes forget that there is more to our beloved game than test matches, super rugby and dare I say it, the Shute Shield. It’s played across the country by all ages, all genders and all abilities. I picked up my first rugby ball aged 11. It was thick, hard leather weighed a ton when it was wet and went out of shape so easily that it soon became almost shaped like a soccer ball. My first game of senior rugby was as a callow 17 yr old in the 5th XV of a famous club in SE London (the oldest club in the world est 1858). I played and eventually coached at that same club for over 20 years, went from the bottom to the top team and back again, but I have to say that some of the most enjoyable games I played was in our 3rd XV known as the Brigands. We were a mixed bunch of blokes, some who had been to the top and were making their way gracefully down and others full of enthusiasm on their way up. We mixed it with the best the Home Counties had to offer. Great days and nights and the epitome of grassroots rugby. Having digressed slightly, I’ll get back to the business at hand.
Having been a regular at AAMI stadium for many seasons, when we moved to Tassie in 2017 I didn’t have a club to hang my hat. That all changed when we upped sticks to Launceston, where I eventually hooked up with the Launceston Tigers who were one of the founding clubs when the Tasmanian Rugby Union was set up in 1933.
A quick word about the TRU. They run both a senior and junior program. The number of teams is small which is hardly surprising for an island where AFL rules the roost. There are two men’s competition – premiership (8 teams) and championship (4 teams). Due to lack of numbers, the women are only able to run a 7s competition with 6 teams. However, they play all their games at one venue on the same day, so you can see nearly 2 hrs of entertaining rugby before the mens matches kick off.
Now all those of you who have played the game will know how much you used to relish pre-season training and those wet, cold miserable evenings where a dropped pass would earn you and your mates 25 push ups if the coach was feeling generous. Bearing in mind that I hadn’t observed let alone taken part in a training session since 1990 I thought that I’d drop in on the Tigers last Thursday session before the big kick off on 1 May to see if training had changed all that much in 30 yrs. And before you ask, I didn’t don my boots but armed with a schooner of Boags finest I watched the boys and girls work out. Basically not much had changed. They still run laps, do sprints, hit tackle bags do the drills associated with today’s game and generally shout a lot. The sessions were well-organised under the watchful eye of the coaching team. One thing stuck out though. Back in my day we were lucky to have a dozen balls to toss around, but now they had more balls than players and there was 40+ training.
So on to the big day, 1 May and the first game of the season. The women’s 7 comp kicked off at 11.00 and went right through to almost 1.00 when the men took over. Unfortunately, I missed this first session as I had to drop my boy off at the airport, but I will make a point of seeing the women’s games. The blokes were playing both their games against Taroona Penguins from Hobart. The first game was a bit of a miss match with the Tigers running in 55-5 winners. It was also pretty clear that one or two had not played the game before with plenty of errors from both sides. One thing that did disturb me though was the number of stoppages for injuries. I know we are used to seeing big collisions in tests and super rugby, but those guys are professional athletes and they train as such. It made me wince on more than one occasion to see a 150 kg prop run over a back and see him scraped off the deck. I suppose it’s a result of the way defences are set across the paddock and poor tackling technique but at this level I feel there is a higher level of risk that may need to be addressed. The crowd loved it though a bit like the Colosseum with the Lions v Christians back in the dim and distant past.
The main fare was the Premiership game. Taroona came into the game as warm favourites having been premiership winners last season. Launceston clearly had other ideas coming away with a 36-19 victory. The Tigers had control of the game from start to finish based on a strong performance from their pack and their big carrying forwards. Passing was a little bit rusty as you might expect for the first game and some of the set piece work at line out and receiving kick offs need work but all in all a good round performance. We even had a couple of yellow cards and a bit of biffo which kept a decent sized crowd amused. The Taroona captain got his 10 mins in the naughty chair for a no arms clear out and his passing comment to his teammates as he trudged off of ‘smash the bastards’ got the biggest cheer of the day.
So, onto the games on 8 May. The women had a further round of 7s with the Championship men taking on Eastern Suburbs from Hobart and the Premiership team taking on last year’s runners up Devonport Bulls. The first game was a bit of a walkover for the Tigers with a comfortable 49-17 win. It was good to see a big improvement in basic skills and adherence to the KISS principle – Keep It Simple Stupid. The Tigers will be a difficult team to beat in the Championship. My mate Hoss will also be pleased to note that he is a svelte individual compared to a couple of the Tigers props who were as broad as they were tall and fitted snugly into their 6XL jerseys. In the after game celebrations it was also good to see that old tradition die hard. The Boat Race is alive a kicking although in this part of the world it seems to be a coxed 4 rather than a proper 8. The Tigers won that race as well. And a note to the blokes. The Eastern Suburbs ladies are a feisty bunch. They skull pints of Guiness in their Boat Race – go girls! Time to raise your game chaps.
The game against the Bulls turned out to be a bit of a reality check for the Tigers. Although they had parity at scrum time, the Bulls outplayed them in all other aspects of the game. This was particularly noticeable at the breakdown where the Bulls made several turnovers and counter rucked very effectively. As a consequence the Bulls dominated possession and territory and spun the ball to good effect. The Tigers tried very hard to reply but pushed passes, unforced errors and a penalty count heavily in the Bulls favour caused their demise and the Bulls ran out 26-19 winners. Elsewhere in the Premiership:
Round 2
Taroona Penguins 31 Hobart Hutchins Lion 5
Harlequins Red 64 UTAS 10
Glenorchy Seniors 36 Burnie Emus 12
In my journey around this beautiful island I aim to drop in on all the clubs, but next on my list is to follow up the invitation from the ladies of Eastern Suburbs and head south on 22 May for the women’s comp.
